


Nino Lahiffe's Extraordinary Guide To Dealing with Birthdays, Superheroes and Neglectful Parents

by not_today (708234)



Series: The Miraculous Extraordinares [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya Césaire & Nino Lahiffe Know, Bad Parent Audrey Bourgeois, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Birthday, Birthday Fluff, Childhood Memories, Chloé Bourgeois Knows, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Crack, Established Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Established Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Established Relationship, F/M, Good Chloé Bourgeois, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor, Light Angst, Luka Couffaine Knows, POV Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, POV Nino Lahiffe, Secret Identity, Team Bonding, basically everyone knows, literally my favorite tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:40:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27375853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/708234/pseuds/not_today
Summary: Nino was losing his mind.He had though they were done with the secrets. They had three, strong couples, they had revealed their superhero identities to Luka months ago, and everything was fine.Until now.All because Luka, sweet, kind, naïve Luka, wanted to do something special for his girlfriend’s birthday.--As Nino is finding out, even with everybody's identities revealed, their group will always be chaotic. But of course, it falls to him to sort everything out. In which Nino is trying his best, Marinette and Alya are having too much fun, Chloe is the oblivious one for once, Luka really loves his girlfriend, and Adrien just wants to be an engineer.Set in the Miraculous Extraordinaires universe.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste & Chloé Bourgeois & Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Chloé Bourgeois/Luka Couffaine
Series: The Miraculous Extraordinares [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1666168
Comments: 4
Kudos: 78





	Nino Lahiffe's Extraordinary Guide To Dealing with Birthdays, Superheroes and Neglectful Parents

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who's back! I know I said I was done with this series, but I couldn't resist writing something else about these dorks, especially now that all the pining and identity problems are over. I haven't really planned this one out, so I'm not sure how long it'll be, but I hope you enjoy! I've decided to use Nino's POV, because I miss writing from his perspective, but there will also be some of Adrien's POV to make things interesting! :)

Nino was losing his mind.

He had though they were done with the secrets. They had three, strong couples, they had revealed their superhero identities to Luka months ago, and everything was fine.

Until now.

All because Luka, sweet, kind, _naïve_ Luka, wanted to do something special for his girlfriend’s birthday. 

But what Luka didn’t understand was that Chloe _hated_ birthdays. There was a reason Chloe never made a fuss on her special day. Most people would think that Chloe, Queen Bee and constant center of attention, would jump at the chance to celebrate herself. Surely she would exploit the day to the fullest, throwing a huge party and expecting gifts from all her classmates, right?

_Wrong._

What most people didn’t understand, and what Chloe had confided in Nino one late night over the phone, was that she really wasn’t a fan of her birthday, or anyone else’s. Why? Because her mother had never, never remembered or celebrated birthdays, specifically hers. There was a whole sob story there, when a six-year-old Chloe had invited her mother to her birthday party, only to be harshly rejected.

(For heaven’s sake, what was the deal with his rich friends and their stupid neglectful parents? He ought to write a book about it. “Nino Lahiffe’s Guide to Giving Your Upper Class Friends a Proper, Loving Childhood”)

Anyway, this posed quite the dilemma. Sure, he could have just shut Luka down immediately, but that would be an awful violation of trust. Chloe had trusted him with her secrets, and he wasn’t about to share them. (The Chloe-has-a-crush-on-Luka thing didn’t count.) Nino knew that Chloe wasn’t particularly proud of her relationship with her mother, and she wouldn’t want Luka to know about it until she was ready. Luka most definitely wouldn’t look at her any differently, but it was Chloe’s story to tell, not his.

So while he had tried to discourage any birthday-surprise planning, he was quickly overruled by the girls and Luka. Adrien, the only other one clued in about Chloe’s feelings on the subject, had sent him a worried look and tried to back him up, but an excited Alya and Marinette were a force to be reckoned with.

And so, nearly a week later, Nino was sprawled out on a chair in the Dupain-Cheng’s Bakery, eating far too many cookies and trying not to groan. Adrien had volunteered to keep Chloe busy while they planned (the coward), leaving Nino alone with Alya, Marinette, Luka, and a way-too-complicated plot.

“...after the choir sings their rendition of “Happy Birthday”, Chat Noir and Ladybug will appear to unfurl the banner,” Alya said excitedly.

“Right!” Marinette agreed. “The caterers should be set up by then, and Chat and I will perform a few tricks until everything is ready.”

“That’s when the music will blast from the hotel, and the guests will be allowed in for the party!” Luka cut in.

Nino fought the urge to facepalm, and jumped when he realized they were staring at him expectantly. “Oh, uh, I’m playing the music...right?”

“Yep!” Marinette cheered, grinning maniacally. Nino looked away desperately, and his gaze locked with Marinette’s mother’s.

“Help me!” he mouthed.

Mrs. Dupain-Cheng giggled, before grabbing another dozen cookies and making her way over to their table. She dropped the bag of cookies in Nino’s lap with a subtle wink and turned to Marinette.

“Marinette, all this sounds very...exciting, but are you sure it’s necessary?”

“Of course it is maman!”

“Yeah!” Alya and Luka chimed in. “Chloe deserves the best!”

Well, Nino couldn’t really argue with that.

“Maman, you’ll be able to cater the desserts, won’t you?” Marinette asked.

Her mother nodded. “Of course, dear. How many guests are you expecting?”

Nino piped up. “Probably just our class, so like, twenty?”

The other three laughed as if he had made a joke. “Yeah right,” Alya said, shooting him a smile. “The invitation will go out to all of Paris! There will be at least two-hundred people there!”

Nino and Mrs. Cheng shared a concerned glance, and Nino stuffed another cookie in his mouth to hide his frustration. _Fantastic._

***

“Hmm, what do you think of this one?”

Adrien fought the urge to groan. “Chlo, I think you’d look fantastic in anything.”

“You’re not even looking!” Chloe snapped.

Adrien sighed and turned to look at her. Sure enough, she looked absolutely stunning. The dress she was wearing was a light blue, and Adrien probably would’ve appreciated it a lot more if it wasn’t the 20th one she’d tried on.

“Alright, I’m looking now, and my verdict hasn’t changed.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, but he knew there was no malice in it.

“You know, for a model, you’re not very into fashion or clothing.”

Adrien snorted, leaning against the wall as Chloe retreated back into the changing stall (hopefully for the last time). “Please, you know I only do that for my father.”

His phone buzzed, and he grinned when he saw the message was from Marinette.

**_Direct Message: Kitty > Princess_ **

**Princess** _We’re getting pretty far into the planning! Wish you were here! <3_

“Speaking of your dad,” Chloe began, her voice slightly muffled by the changing room door. “Have you mentioned to him that you want to pursue engineering, not fashion?”

Adrien frowned, mood souring at the reminder. “No, not yet,” he responded, simultaneously typing out a message to his girlfriend. “You know that conversation won’t go over well.”

**Kitty** _yay! i wish i was there too_

“Well of course it won’t,” Chloe admitted, emerging from the stall, arms full of all the clothes she had tried on. “But the sooner you tell him, the better.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll do it...eventually.” Chloe shot him a look that communicated just how much she believed him, and he waved her off with a laugh.

“How many of those are you going to buy anyway?”

Chloe contemplated the clothes for a moment before nodding decisively. “None of them. Come on, let’s go get ice cream.”

She hung up the clothes and grabbed his arm, and the two of them practically ran out of the store, laughing and avoiding the glares of disgruntled employees.

***

Nino squinted at his Algebra homework, as if staring hard enough would cause the equations and numbers to make sense. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t).

Throwing down his pencil in defeat, he ran his hands over his face in exhaustion. _That’s it, I’m calling Adrien._

Nino’s best friend picked up on the second ring, and listened patiently as Nino explained what he was struggling with. Luckily, Adrien had already completed the assignment, and he explained it pretty quickly. Nino was pretty sure they all would have failed every math and science class if it weren’t for Adrien.

Nino boxed in the answer to the last problem with a grin. “Thanks man, I was totally lost.”

_“No problem dude.”_

“Seriously though, you’re such a math genius. You’ll make an amazing engineer.”

_“Yeah, I guess.”_

Nino frowned at the response. “So...have you mentioned your career plans to your old man yet?” he asked carefully. Adrien chuckled tiredly.

_“Funny you should mention it, Chloe asked me the same thing earlier. Speaking of Chloe, what are we going to do about this birthday party thing?”_

It was an obvious deflection, but Nino knew better than to push it.

“I have no idea. The girls and Luka have gotten way into it.”

_“Yeah, Mari said the plan included superheroes and a full orchestra. And apparently all of Paris is invited?”_

“It’s a whole mess dude. Chloe’s going to hate it.”

_“That’s awful. She shouldn’t have to go through that.”_

“Mhmm. I wish we could do something she really wants for her birthday, but I feel like she just wants us to ignore it.” The other end was silent for a moment. “Adrien?”

_“What? Oh. Well, I was just thinking that, maybe, there is something she’d want for her birthday.”_

This was news to Nino. “Really? That’s great, what is it?”

_“Not so much a what, but a who.”_ Adrien sounded a bit nervous. _“The person who caused her hate birthdays in the first place. The person who’s never celebrated her birthday. Chloe’s mother.”_

Nino froze. “What are you saying?”

_“What if we ditch the crazy plans, organize a simple surprise party, and invite Chloe’s mom.”_

“Whoa. You don’t think Chloe would be mad?”

_“If her mother came, I think she’d be way more pleased than mad.”_

“But...can we really do this? Would Audrey Bourgeois really accept our invitation? I guess you are important enough.”

_“Whether or not she accepts is one thing, but getting the info to her and not one of her millions of secretaries will be tricky. My father could probably get a message to her, but I don’t think we want to get him involved. I’m not important enough, I’m just Gabriel Agreste’s son to her. We need someone who can get her attention, but won’t expose the secret to anyone else.”_

“Yeah. Somebody who has a way to contact her directly. But who do we know that can do that?”

They were both silent for a moment as they thought, and then it hit them.

_“Marinette.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed please leave a comment or kudos! I love reading your comments, and they encourage me to keep writing! Stay safe! :)


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